Screaming Bird

Screaming Bird (1778-1864) was a chief of the Seminole tribe of Florida. Born Meskogaweh, he was of Cherokee descent, and he commanded the renegade Seminoles during the First Seminole War.

Biography
Meskogaweh was born in 1778 in the present-day United States' state of Florida around Clay County. He was of Cherokee Nations descent, but his family was forced to relocate to Spanish Florida after clashes with the United States. Meskogaweh's English nickname "Screaming Bird" came from his battle cry that he made during combat. Screaming Bird inherited his father's position as the chief of a tribe of the Cherokee, and Screaming Bird led a band of Cherokee warriors in battle against the Americans during the First Seminole War of 1816-1819. He was the victor at the Boggy Branch Massacre, during which 502 out of 540 American troops under Captain Thomas Branch were ambushed and killed by Screaming Bird's mixed Cherokee, Muskogee, and Creek army. However, he was forced to relocate to central Florida after the defeat, and after the Second Seminole War of 1835-1842, he was forced to head west to the Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). Screaming Bird died on a reservation near Oklahoma City in 1864 at the age of 86.